Review by
Eric Hillis
Directed by: John Madden
Starring: Colin Firth, Kelly MacDonald, Matthew Macfadyen,
Penelope Wilton, Johnny Flynn, Simon Russell Beale, Jason Isaacs
Key to the allied forces' success in World War II was a figure named
Major William Martin. What's extraordinary about Martin's role is that
he managed to help turn the tide of the war without having ever existed.
Playing a similarly key role was a man named Glyndwr Michael. What's
extraordinary about Michael's role is that he helped turn the tide of
the war while being very dead. Martin and Michael were in fact the same
man, the latter's corpse adopting the fictitious guise of the former.
Weeks after his death at home in Britain, Michael found himself at the
centre of one of the most fascinating stories to emerge from the war,
that of Operation Mincemeat.
The story previously inspired the 1956 film
The Man Who Never Was, but at that time the real identity of Martin was unknown. Now
director John Madden's Operation Mincemeat gives
Michael his cinematic dues.
It's 1943 and the allies are plotting an assault on Sicily with the
intent of retaking Europe by advancing through Italy. The idea seems so
obvious that they're sure the Nazis will be waiting for them, and so a
plot is set in motion to fool the Germans into believing they intend to
storm Greece rather than Sicily.
This is where the fresh corpse of Michael comes in. Led by Intelligence
officer Ewan Montagu (Colin Firth), the top secret Operation
Mincemeat (renamed from the on the nose "Operation Trojan Horse") is set
in motion. Michael's lifeless body becomes Major William Martin, and a
fake identity is supplemented by filling his pockets with "wallet
litter," including a love letter from his wife and a secret document
outlining the fake plot to invade Greece. The plan is to have Michael's
body wash ashore in Spain, where the documents on his person will no
doubt end up in the hands of the Nazis due to the sympathetic Franco
regime.
Madden and screenwriter Michelle Ashford have constructed a very
old-fashioned war movie of the sort best viewed on a Sunday afternoon
with a belly full of roast beef and your Dad nodding in and out of sleep
on the couch beside you. The cast is largely filled with British actors
who have a timeless quality. While some actors have a decidedly modern
appeal, Firth has the look of a man who could have been a star of
British cinema at any point in the last hundred years. Over the course
of his career he's found himself typecast as the sensitive hunk, and to
a degree that's how his Montagu is portrayed, with the film adding a
subplot concerning his will-they-won't-they relationship with MI5 clerk
Jean Leslie (Kelly MacDonald). Whether they'll lock their stiff
upper lips together becomes as much a narrative drive as the success of
the eponymous operation. MacDonald and Firth both possess such a natural
charm that this extraneous subplot never proves a distraction from the
main plot.
And that main plot is indeed fascinating, though you may find yourself
wishing it had been undertaken by a more visually gifted filmmaker than
Madden, a director synonymous with a certain type of middle of the road
British cinema. On the other hand, having a director who stands back and
puts his cast front and centre means we get to enjoy the contributions
of some great British character actors including
Simon Russell Beale as Churchill, Penelope Wilton as an
MI5 section head, Jason Isaacs as a stuffy Admiral, and most fun
of all, Matthew Macfadyen as Charles Cholmondeley, who finds
himself cucked by Firth's Montagu in a rather odd subplot.
James Bond fans will find much to enjoy with
Johnny Flynn playing a young Ian Fleming, then a Naval
intelligence officer. We even get a visit to the subterranean HQ of Q
Branch, where a Desmond Llewellyn lookalike introduces Fleming to a
watch that doubles as a buzzsaw, along with various lines about Fleming
hammering out a "spy story" on his typewriter.
As a depiction of one of the war's most intriguing operations, Madden's
film lacks the oomph factor that a Christopher Nolan might have brought,
but it succeeds as a story of a group of smart people getting together
to outwit an imposing enemy, with a formidable cast bringing these
unsung heroes to life, or indeed death.
